Starcross

Chapter Three - Part ll

Presidential Bunker Underneath White House

Washington D.C.

3 March 2020

      ALERT ALERT ALERT

      NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY EMERGENCY FLASH TRANSMISSION

      057792D-8

      ENCRYPTION CODE: BLACK

      IMMEDIACY: INDIGO

      FROM: NSA/ESIGINT

      TO: ALL AUTHORIZED

      SUBJECT: INTERCEPTED DRUIDTH COMMUNICATION

      CLASSIFICATION: OPEN

      SINGLE DRUIDTH COMMUNICATION ORIGINATING FROM DEEP SPACE COMMUNICATIONS SATELLITE NETWORK BELIEVED TO ORIGINATE FROM DRUIDTH HOME WORLD – VASGHYRR.

      MESSAGE DECRYPTED AND TRANSLATED VIA HUMAN MADE CRYPTOGRAPHY SOFTWARE. MESSAGE AS FOLLOWS:

      POPULATION IN UPROAR. INSULT NOT TO BE TAKEN LIGHTLY, POLITICAL RESOLUTION NOT POSSIBLE. SAVAGES WILL BE BROUGHT INTO EMPIRE BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY. KING SEND REGARDS AND BLESSINGS. UNLOCK TORTHIG.

      DEFINITION OF ‘TORTHIG’ UNKNOWN.

      TRENDS AND INTENTIONS BELIEVE POSSIBLE ATTACK IMMINENT. POSSIBILITY EXCEEDING 73.8%.

      X X X X X X X X X X END TRANSMISSION X X X X X X X X X X

      Richard Burbank sighed as he put the, now useless, perforated telex paper down on the table and grabbed his cup of coffee which, judging from the taste, had been down here since the Carter administration. Of course, the President and his closest staff get the good stuff, he thought. And who am I? Oh, only the country’s leading expert on the Druidth, yet I’m still the low man on the totem pole who always gets relevant information when it can’t do any good.

      After the attacks were reported, the President, and everyone who happened to be in the situation room, was whisked down into the concrete bunker some classified number of feet below the surface and made of very classified materials of classified thicknesses. Luckily, Laughlin had brought him down to the White House a few hours before and was going to have him give a briefing on the Druidth collective mentality of the situation; unfortunately that was all scrapped as the Chief of Staff got a fateful call about the attacks. Instead of wasting the time it would take to pick out those who weren’t important enough for the bunker, the Secret Service just whisked the President to the hidden door and stayed behind as they hurried everyone else in as well.

      Now, he was sitting here listening to the Secretary of Defense drone on about his plan to level every Druidth colony in retaliation; his baritone voice booming out from the open doors that lead to the lavish conference room that held a dozen different ways to communicate with the outside world securely. While Wheeler outlined his plan to the President, Chief of Staff, and Vice President who was listening in from an outside line, he was moved to a separate secure location, as well as several other government officials who were much higher ranking than Burbank.

      Finally, when he couldn’t take any more of the overzealous ranting and planning to commit genocide, Richard jumped up from his metal chair and stomped over to the open doors flanked by two menacing Secret Service agents. At first, he flinched, expecting one of them to shoot him in the back as he blew past them, but they must have been satisfied with the extremely thorough body search he received when he first arrived down here. When no bullets cut him down he stepped forward to the head of the oaken table where Wheeler was making his tirade and slammed his fist down.