"We have 12 of the Grell carrier class ships and all of those have been upgraded to Lota standards and cloaking capability. The same is true for 6 of the battleships and 10 of the destroyers. We will continue to work on the remaining ships to see what we can make of them."
"That is great. Now we need to do some planning to see who goes with each task force and get them ready to go. Nikolay and Anya will be in charge of the Task Force A to the Grell fleet. Paulo and Rosa will be second for Earth with Fass and Ela for Lota. You will have six cloaked carriers, six cloaked Battleships and four cloaked destroyers. Your goal is to herd them on to Grell. Go out and shadow the Grell until you hear from the ship we are sending to the Grell System. From there, play it as you see it but do not let them continue on to Fair. If they are lying to us about any of this, they forfeit their retention of the two carriers and the three battleships. The reason we are sending so many ships with you is that our ships have been rigged to couple with a ship of like size and propel the linked ships at our current maximum speed. Once coupled, the cloaking covers both coupled ships. I want considerable fire power with this task force because I want the Grell military confined to their planet."
"The second task force going out is Task Force B to search for survivors at Lota. That will be led by Sider and Fema with Ed and Janie in second. They leave in two days."
"This may sound like a lot to do with limited resources, but I believe that we can do even more with exactly what we have. I have also been loading each of our operations with more ships and personnel than we likely need to perform each task. That comes under the better safe than sorry heading and will continue until I am satisfied that we can do more with fewer resources. That time is coming, but in the meantime we are learning what we can do with what we have."
Chapter 23 - Distractions
# Earth Orbit on the Solaran Ship Aston #
# Tuesday, August 9 #
“Aston, have we had anymore terrorist action or do things seem to have quieted down a bit?”
<It is not your imagination, things have quieted down since the Mustafa group was captured. Hopefully, it will stay that way for a while. It seems like the various governments are finally able to get ahead of the curve and are heading off these groups before they become problematic. That doesn’t mean there is no work for us. We are still finding groups that are planning and executing terrorist attacks. Most of these have been thwarted by our action or by the country under attack. A more worrisome development is the increasing efforts being made to locate our people. Some of the persons behind this are not governments but rather some very wealthy and powerful people. They have not found any of our Solarans as yet but this is a distraction we do not need at this point. I have identified three persons all with the same aim but not working together. Each of the three have things they wish to hide. My suggestion is that you show them that the Solarans can play a more effective brand of hardball then they can. Two are in the United States and one is in China. All three are involved in criminal activities and seem to feel that they are sufficiently shielded from those activities to avoid detection and subsequent action. I have been collecting data on them that will be impossible to refute.>
"Well that is annoying. I guess it is time to put a halt to their little game. Time for a visit. Who represents the most immediate threat?"
<In my opinion, Anthony Petruzzi. He is the money behind so much criminal activity in the United States that it is difficult to believe he has managed to stay out of jail. His bribery budget is over a hundred million dollars a year so he gets away with pretty much any thing he wants. It appears that he wants to use us against his opposition. He owns great chunks of the news media and uses that to stifle criticism.>
"Is he under investigation?"
<Oh yes, but no one seems to be able to pull it all together.>
“It seems to me that maybe a visit of the normal kind is not what is needed here. He needs to be treated more like our ‘Capos South of the Border’. We need to focus on his vulnerabilities and send him a real message that he can understand. One that will be felt in his pocketbook. I am assuming that there are no outstanding warrants for any actions for which he has been personally involved.”
<Correct.>
“What about his minions?”
<That is a very different story.>
“I thought it might be. Let’s start packaging these minions up and delivering them to the appropriate authorities. Let’s do it unseen with sufficient evidence attached to leave no question as to who they are and why they are there as well as who they work for. Also, I want his computers searched. If he has any data on any computer about our people, I want it wiped. Same for backups. Anything we find on his computers relating to his misdeeds, I want shared with the SEC, the IRS, the FBI, any agency to whom it is useful. I want him and all his cronies tagged so they can’t lie about what they are doing. That should get his attention. What about number two on the list?”
<That would be George Dunts. He is a real prize. He has a lot of skeletons in his closet as well. Mostly theft, insider trading, and trading scams. He does not care who he hurts as long as it makes him wealthier. He has moved a considerable amount of his wealth off shore and the tax folks do not know it. He is presently trying to promote a coup in two countries to enhance his investments there.>
“Let’s do the same with him as with Mr. Petruzzi. Remove his henchmen with warrants where we can and put the alphabet soup of Federal agencies on his tail. In addition, do the same with his computers. Can we change his access to those foreign accounts? Freeze them so he can not access them?”
<I believe that should not be so difficult to accomplish.>
“What about his US holdings?”
<Oho, I see where you are going with this. That would be a major distraction for him.>
“Well let’s not play favorites. Let’s use the same treatment for both. I think it would be interesting to see what happens if some of their secure e-mails were to be delivered to the same Federal agencies.”
<Ok, that goes beyond distraction and I like it. Who would you like to orchestrate the effort?>
“I was thinking that Jim Cody would enjoy this one along with George Carter, Richard Clark and Irene Clark. That gives us a cop and three attorneys, two of whom have RICO expertise. I think that Fred Larson would be a good choice for his Economics expertise and finish the team with Mom, her management expertise should round off the team nicely. Jim may want some others and that is OK I would prefer that this not point back to us too visibly. I would like to see us push harder and faster than these guys can keep up with.”
<I agree. Keep them off balance.>
“What of the third party?”
<That would be Chou En Huang. He is arguably the wealthiest of the batch and I think he wants to take control of his own country. He seems to spend most of his time outside of China and I suspect that he is not well received at home. He is the one most responsible for the hacking of foreign computer systems for China but appears to have had a falling out with the leadership who question some of his methods and tactics. It appears that they fear his approach is a bit too confrontational.>
“I wonder what Chairman Sing would have to say about that?”
<There is one way to find out.>
“You are of course correct.” <Mom, Dad, Jim, Maria, Gus, Barbara, Pat, are you all available for a little trip to China to visit Chairman Sing.> He explained what the trip was all about. All were interested in the return visit. Andy sent a telepathic message to Chairman Sing asking if he was available for a meeting. Chairman Sing indicated that he was and said that he needed only a minute to clear his calendar for the next hour.
A minute later the eight Solarans were in the Premier’s office. Chairman Sing commented, <It is good to again see you, I hope this is not a harbinger of bad tidings.>
<Likewise Premier Sing, I do not think this is bad tidings, however it is a problem that we would like to resolve. Call it a distraction for
us if you wish. We knew that our presence on Earth would be a problem for some. We realized that there would be organizations that would want to uncover who we were in an attempt to force our services for projects in which we would not wish to engage. Some of the more troublesome approaches would include attempts to use us through friends and relatives, placing them and us in untenable positions. This is why we are very secretive about our identities. These searches are unacceptable and we have so informed governments that we have assisted that this was not acceptable. We are aware that there are extremely wealthy persons that might have a similar agenda, also unacceptable. We currently know of three organizations of this ilk. Two of them are criminal organizations that routinely do harm to people unable to protect themselves. These we can address as criminals and I assure you that we will make them most uncomfortable. The likelihood is that they will end up incarcerated. That would be a most just solution. The third organization is one of your countrymen and we are about to make him most uncomfortable. He is the reason we are here today. We are not here to seek your assistance, merely to let you know that we can no longer tolerate his activities and will take steps to blunt his activities. His name is Chou En Huang.>
The Chairman reacted immediately, <Just what is that heap of dung up to now? If we could find him, he would have been on trial months ago. He was useful for a time for his computer skills but those have brought us nothing but grief. He has brought us to the brink of disaster on several occasions. His machinations have been an embarrassment to us and has caused us to lose face on some important issues. You are welcome to whatever help we can provide. He is like a one-man North Korea and we have not been able to find or stop him. What has he done to bring him to your attention?>
<Aside from actively trying to find our Solarans, he has set the stage for a coup in your government. That is not a destabilization that this world can afford just now. We are also concerned that he may try to partner with two other very wealthy criminals and such a collaboration would be disastrous.>
<They wouldn't be Anthony Petruzzi and George Dunts by any chance.>
<Chairman Sing, now you surprise us. They are indeed our persons of interest. They are pretty nasty individuals and they are hurting too many people to be left to their own devices.>
<Seven weeks ago, you Solarans saved my country a great deal of embarrassment and gave us the courtesy of quietly explaining the circumstances when you could well have taken advantage of the situation with a flashy public display. Essentially, you demonstrated to us that you could be trusted to handle something on that order without seeking the furtherance of some political agenda. You were clearly interested in what was best for the world. I have no doubt that we may not always see eye to eye on what may be best since obviously, I have my country's best interest foremost in my mind. Nevertheless there are circumstances where your approaches and solutions are in the best interest of the world and that coincide with our national interests as well as those of other countries. Your presence is giving us a breathing space through which we can make this a more peaceful world. With that in mind, I will help where I can. I do have information on those two individuals that will be useful to you and the political situation is such that I can't just give it to the United States. However a United States weakened by crime is not our aim and is not in our best interests. So if the information we can give you should happen to find its way to the appropriate agencies in that government, we all win. We are aware that there have been preliminary meetings and negotiations among the three persons of interest. This is disturbing to us since their agenda has never been one that we favor. It appears that they want to control the world-wide-web. If they achieve that, they will, de facto, become rulers of the world. >
<Chairman Sing, I must say that this discussion has taken an unexpected turn and I am delighted that it has. We are still attempting to locate Mr. Huang and I do worry about the impact he has already had. Their power base is worrisome and we are taking steps to diminish it. They can not be permitted to gain any additional leverage on the world stage. The action you attribute to them is a threat to everyone. We will address it.>
Andy went on, <On another note, there is something that you should know. A large segment of the Solaran operation is now based on the moon. We recently evicted a species of aliens called the Grell, that were inhabiting the moon and preparing to invade this planet. They had been in place since about 1944. Next, there is an alien species called the Sorza. This is the species that resulted in the formation of the Solarans. They are currently en route from their invasion of Lota to strike at the Earth. We intend to drive them back whence they came and then quarantine them. A large number of Lotans have survived the Sorza Invasion and are currently with us on the moon. They are essentially another race of humans. We will shortly mount a rescue mission to Lota to see if more survive there. The Grell are currently on the way to invade the planet Fair and that will not be permitted. We do not yet know much about the species on Fair but will soon. There is yet another alien species out there called the Slegna and they are benevolent.>
<We are renovating the bases on the moon and these will primarily be occupied by the Solarans and the Lotans. We have set aside a number of these bases for use by the people of Earth. We will deed some of those restored bases to Earth, when the major powers on Earth reach the moon in a joint non-military effort. In the meantime, we are still dealing with the former inhabitants of the moon, the Grell. We must also deal with the Sorza. We will soon want to meet with you and the other super powers to discuss a roadmap for your involvement in cleaning up the planet, entry into space and exploration of the system. We do not intend to be Earths guardians forever. The people of Earth need to assume that responsibility.>
<I look forward to such meetings. Please let me know what else we can do to help. I will have the information promised here at this time tomorrow.>
<And we will have an information packet for you at that time as well. Good day to you.>
Later back on the ship, the eight Solarans were debriefing. Jim noted that the Chairman's reaction to Huang appeared to be genuine. Andy responded, "He is a very smooth politician so I am reserving judgment for now. This troika of trouble has to be dealt with and quickly. I worry a bit that we may be playing into the Premier's hands but this has to be done. I think we will need to have a discussion with the Russian and American Presidents. We have given them enough of a head-start to start cleaning up this mess themselves. I think that the idea we are doing a limited withdrawal may be just what we need to prompt them into action. Aston, have we located each of the three yet?"
<Yes and all are tagged.>
"Aston, can you interrupt the ability of those three to access the world-wide-web and slow down their computers? Make their service patchy without an identifiable virus? Give them a computer headache without a way to trace the cause? Work it so that a reboot merely makes the difficulties worse?"
<I can do that. How soon would you like to activate the process?>
"When can you be ready?"
<Now.>
"Oh I love it when a plan comes together. Lets do it then. Keep me posted on the effects of the raid."
<They are already having fits about not being able to reach their funds.>
<I knew you would want that so the list is already prepared. How do you want it distributed?>
"That kind of depends on who is on the list. I do not want to be sending persons we are looking to see prosecuted to someone who is on that list. I also do not want to send information we have gathered to someone on that list so it can be buried. Any one on that list will be fair game. Are there any on the list that we have to deal with in this way?"
<There are several. The most troubling are those in the Department of Justice. Those represent some of the largest sums paid.>
"Just please tell me that the President is not
on that list."
<That would complicate matters. He is not on the list.>
"Aston, I will need that list printed on French paper this time. Are all of you ready for another visit? "
All agreed. <Mr. President, this is the Solaran Commander, would it be convenient to meet with you in about 10 minutes for about a half an hour? >
<I am in a meeting with the Attorney General just now and we are just finishing up. Ten minutes would be fine.>
<Mr. President, would it be possible for the Attorney General to remain? The issue we have will be of substantial interest to him as well?>
<In that case, we are ready for you now. Come ahead at your convenience.>
They all teleported to the Oval Office ten seconds later. <Mr. President, Mr. Attorney General, thank you for seeing us on such short notice. I will get right to the point. As you may recall from our last visit, we are somewhat sensitive to government efforts made to find us with the intent of directing how we apply our efforts. So far we have not found that effort being made by the super powers, however we are finding a considerable effort being made by three extremely powerful and wealthy individuals. We are in the process of making their lives a bit more complicated. I suspect that your Attorney General might guess who I am talking about. Correct Mr. Attorney General?>
"My guess would be Chou En Huang, Anthony Petruzzi and George Dunts."
<Indeed, that is the list. These gentlemen, and I use the term loosely, are criminals of the first order and we are in the process of dismantling their organizations but there is a problem.>
The President responded, <Bribed individuals within the government.>
<Exactly.>
<Our problem is that we strongly suspect this but cannot prove it. The investigations are sensitive enough without having our own people working against us. It is precisely the reason why the Attorney General and I are meeting at this time.>