Starcross

Chapter Six Part ll

Washington D.C.

            Leaning back in his new, far more comfortable, office chair and gazing out the window that overlooked Capitol Hill, Richard Burbank relaxed in his office like he did every morning. The fact that he was now Secretary of the Interior would have been completely irrelevant had it not made the view change. Sometimes he enjoyed watching all the hustle and bustle of people out on the streets below; but more often than not he missed the green forests that surrounded his old office.

            As far as his new title went, he found himself mainly dealing with the environmental damage of the Druidth attack and assigning teams of government agents to the abandoned colonies to see what they could find and use. Mostly though, it was working with the Department of Defense to clean up and rebuild the destroyed military bases and trying to get major companies to start using the Hydrogen power plants that the Druidth left behind in an effort to stop CO2 emissions. One good thing that did come from his promotion was that he had become very close friends with Secretary of Defense John Wheeler and William Lovett, the Director of Central Intelligence.

            “Sir,” Christopher Bena interrupted his thoughts by sticking his head in the door. Unlike his last position, there was never enough time to sit and just relax. “Your first appointment for the day is here.”

            “Amanda Cohen, right?” Burbank replied.

            “Yes Sir. The representative for ANDR.”

            “Send her in.” The ANDR, or Americans for Naturalizing Druidth Refugees, was a group that sprung up in the three months after what was being called the Five-Day War where American submarine launched nuclear missiles destroyed roughly ninety-percent of the Druidth armada in orbit. Not a name he would have chosen but history would pick a better one someday. Mainly it was a group of people who, by one way or another, found themselves romantically involved with members of the alien race.

            The mahogany door opened and in stepped a young woman with curly brown hair wearing a formal version of the Druidth tunic. Clothes, toys, books, tools, et cetera were all left behind when the colonists piled onto their shuttles and evacuated the planet, boarding the fleeing warships before they accelerated and left for Vasghyrr. Few remained behind, really only those who were conducting business or on vacation in foreign cities.

            “Thank you for seeing me, Mr. Burbank,” She said with a smile and sat in one of the plush chairs.

            “Of course,” He replied, matching her smile. “All matters Druidth fall under my authority and I feel it’s a good thing you’re doing. It’s a well-known fact, at least among those of us on the Beltway, that I was very close with the Druidth ambassador.”

            “Yes, so my father says. This is why I came to you first.”

            “Well, what can I help you with today?”

            Amanda shifted in her seat. “Many Druidth refugees are being discriminated against. People are refusing to serve them, whenever an incident occurs with a Human and a Druidth the police always side with the Human, they are so afraid of being raped or assaulted that most of them don’t leave their homes. Those that still have homes that is.” It was clear to Burbank that she had spent many hours preparing and memorizing what she was saying. “Landlords have raised the rent ten times or more, and it’s like the law doesn’t apply to the Druidth at all. It’s like killing a slave before the Emancipation; the only problem is to get rid of the body and not the death of a sentient being.”