Backstory of The Second Mission
The Second Mission by Chiron Force
-Second Mission-
-Chapter 1-
October 19, 2100 10:13 AM The Oval Office Washington D.C.
A phone on the desk of the President of the United States of America rang. “President Shafford speaking….WHAT?! Are you sure? I’ll be over right away.”
A tall, muscular man stormed into the office of Ms. Leskaic, the private secretary of the President. “Is there a problem, President Shafford?” “It appears that way, Ms. Leskaic. I will be departing for Unity Mission Control in Charlottesville in 20 minutes.” “Should I postpone your lunch with the Ambassador of Sweden?” The man turned and thought for a minute. “Cancel it. I have far more important matters to deal with.”
11:09 Unity Mission Control Charlottesville, Virginia
Two black cars passed the guard station on the perimeter of the Unity Mission Control complex. The cars stopped in front of the main building, and out stepped the leader of the free world, and two Secret Service agents. They entered the building, and were greeted by the members of the Cabinet, as well as representatives from the CIA and NSA. Minutes later the group was sitting around a large mahogany conference table. In front of the table was a large video screen. Martin Filert, the director of the Unity Mission, remained standing.
Filert looked around at the politicians seated at the table and cleared his throat. “As you know the Unity was scheduled to enter the orbit of Chiron yesterday. The mission was going according to plan with out a problem until it began its descent into the orbit of the plan. We had been receiving regular transmissions every half hour. But at 4:30 A.M. we received no transmission. Again at 5:00 we received nothing from the Unity. At 5:30, however, we received both audio and video transmission from the Unity…” The lights in the room went out. Filert turned and the video screen came to life. There was a loud burst of static, and the image of the Unity control deck came into focus. “This was probably the last transmission sent by the ship.”
The members of the Cabinet stared at the screen in disbelief. The control deck looked like it had sustained a nuclear blast. Bodies and electronics were scattered about the floor. A bloody crewmember came into the screen and leaned against a chair for support. “There has been a mutiny aboard the Unity...a burst of static…Captain Garland is dead…the mission is in serious danger…the ship is heading towards the surface.” The crewmember coughed, and collapsed to the floor.
The lights in the room came back on. The Cabinet was speechless. After a long silence, Filert gave his conclusion. “That was the last transmission received from the Unity. We can only assume that the ship crashed into the surface of Chiron. There is a possibility that the escape pods were jettisoned, but that seems improbable. Mission control has continued to try to reestablish contact with the Unity, but so far has been unable to. We can only continue to monitor the situation. No real action can be taken at the present time. If no communications are received within the next week, then that can be considered proof that the Unity Mission met its doom.”
The members of the Cabinet rose, and exited the room. The magnitude of the situation would sink in during the following week. The Unity had been lost. The President now had to inform the public, and decide what to do. No small task.
-Chapter 2-
October 22, 2100 9:58 PMPholus Mutegen CerraGen Corporate Headquarters Asheville, North Carolina
“…but fear not good citizens, humanity will prevail. The lessons we have learned from this will aid us well in the future.” (a chorus of cheers) The screen flickers and goes blank. CerraGen Director Tim Corbal sat at his desk contemplating the President’s just completed speech. How would this disaster aid them? It had not been some mechanical failure or crew error, but a bloody mutiny. Corbal laughed. “Those fools got just what they deserved,” he thought, “Seriously, what could the U.N. ever get right? All they could do is complicate clear and simple matters. Could never trust that corrupt bureaucracy of egotistical idiots.” But what would happen from here? The President had put forward no new proposals, or ideas. Would they just let this incident slide? It had seemed like that.
October 23, 2100 9:44 AM NORAD Headquarters Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado
“Mr. President, this incident has been a serious blow to your popularity and to the human psyche. The short peace we enjoy now will erupt into violence once people find out we have no hope and get desperate again. We must do something!” finished Allen Sealy, the Secretary of State. President Shafford sat behind his desk, hands behind his head and staring at the ceiling. Indeed the short peace would end.
The Unity Mission did much to placate much domestic and international unrest. In the South, Christian fundamentalists would once again be chanting their Armageddon hymns. The anarchists in Seattle would start rioting again and calling for the end of government. Overseas, terrorist groups would step up activity to prey on crippled morale and promote their disillusioned causes. In Asia, massive drug cartels had taken over the governments of Myanmar, Laos, and Indonesia. Korea, now under the full control of communists, is a growing nuclear threat. And of course, America was still hated by the entire Arab world.
Something definitely had to be done, but what? American interests were in serious jeopardy. Shafford had no answer. He turned to Sealy, hoping he had something, “Well?” Sealy looked up, his face expressionless. “I’ll get the cabinet together later, we’ll think of something.” He stood up and left the room. Shafford sat back in his cushy leather chair. They needed an answer quick, but nobody had any idea what to. What could he do now? He just had to wait. Some opportunity would present itself. And eventually it would, though not in the form he had hoped.
