Creation's Guardian Ch. 04

The Ukrainian government was lucky. Their forward forces had been equipped with their new weapons just days ago. All their other units were being equipped as the emergency shipments arrived.

The government troops didn't even bother attacking, allowing the rebels to beat a hasty retreat in whatever civilian vehicles they could commandeer.

As the Ukrainian forces followed the rebels on to the Crimea peninsula, the Russians tried to launch airstrikes from their air bases at Kacha and Gvardeyskaya to no avail. The planes and helicopters exploded before they could take off.

With no way to defend themselves, the Russians joined the rebels retreating all the way to the Russian naval bases at Feodosia and Sevastopol hoping the bases could provide them some measure of protection.

The Russian naval base commanders soon realized they couldn't defend their bases. A Mig had already exploded on the deck of a carrier and an attack helicopter exploded trying to lift off. The Russians tried to send them some air support. But as soon as they got in range of Ukrainian air space they crashed.

A couple of hours later the Ukrainians began firing mortars at the bases. After a barracks took a direct hit killing several hundred Russian personnel, the base commanders received orders to move everyone on board the ships and abandon the bases.

The Ukrainian government ordered an immediate recon of any nearby Russian missile bunkers.

Every missile bunker was on full lock down. Even the guards were sealed inside. The Ukrainians prayed that it was only a Russian move to prevent them from taking over the missiles. But they were terrified it was much worse than that. Maybe they had gone too far to fast?"

Cassandra said, "look at that tactical screen Your Majesty. The subs are all in firing position. The bombers are all in the air and the mobile launchers are on the move."

"Yup. It's starting." Bob looked over at the Commander of the Djinn combat caliphs. "Ali, tell your troops to re-position themselves a little. I want those missiles to stay in the air for ninety seconds. I wanna bring those fuckers right to the edge before we pull them back."

Ali laughed. "It's done Your Majesty. That'll be the longest ninety seconds of their lives. It ought to scare the living shit out of all of them."

Just as Bob was about to answer, Destiny appeared. "Mother wants to see you."

"Tell her she'll have to wait. I'm in the middle of a crisis here Destiny. If you stick around a few minutes, you'll have all the answers the boss needs."

Bob glanced at the tactical screen. " In a few minutes Russia is gonna launch everything they've got. Everyone else is gonna retaliate. It's gonna be a full scale nuclear war that's gonna end less than two minutes after it starts. It's exactly what I planned on happening. I'm sorry we didn't have time to talk about this. But the situation escalated faster than I expected. Baby girl, when the last missile launches, lock down all their systems. Then bring down all the bombers."

Destiny said, "do you realize how risky this is? If those missiles get through..."

Bob snapped. "Not a single one will get through! I promise you that Destiny! Ali's troops are the best there is! I wouldn't have even tried this if I wasn't sure of that!"

The first Russian missile launched followed seconds later by the other nuclear powers. For ninety seconds Bob's tactical screen lit up like a Christmas Tree. Then the red dots just disappeared.

Kadir said, "their systems are locked and the bombers are all down master."

"Thank you baby girl. Athena, front screens, world leaders, major news networks NOW! Don't let them see or hear me yet. But I wanna see and hear them."

Athena said, "you got it Your Majesty."

"Thanks Athena. Baby girl you're up again. Uranium, anything enriched beyond five percent, I want gone. Make sure they can never enrich it beyond that again. Plutonium, every bit of it gone. It's not to exist on Earth ever again. Eliminate all bacterial and chemical weapons. Make sure they can never be made again. No country's military equipment is to be able to function at all. Leave the police and security forces alone for now but allow them nothing bigger than small arms. Make sure those only function within their own national borders."

Kadir replied, "it's all set Your Majesty.

Bob swiveled his throne around looking at each council member in turn. "Okay, now comes the hard part. Athena, tie me in let them all see and hear me, and each other."

Athena said, "you're tied in Your Majesty."

Bob looked at the screens for several long seconds. "Well, well, well. What are you fucking idiots up to now? Let me guess. You're trying a new form of population control? No, that's not it. You just wanted to kill each other because you're all fucking nuts!"

The American President said, "just who do you..."

Bob yelled, "shut the fuck up! I didn't give anyone permission to speak yet! Do it again, you'll die on the spot!"

The American President laughed. "I don't think so."

Bob said, "Cassandra, take his fucking head off!"

Cassandra stood. Swinging her sword. The world watched in horror as the American President's head fell beside his lifeless body. Then she sat back down.

Bob said, "anyone else feel like loosing their head? No? Good, now were getting somewhere! I'm Creation's Guardian. I've been given the unpleasant task of deciding your fates. Since I haven't decided whether or not you're worth the trouble, I stopped your little game of chicken. After all, I can't have you doing my job for me.

Let's see how bad you all wanna live." Bob waved his hand and a document appeared in the hand of every world leader including the American Vice President.

"You're all holding an instrument of unconditional surrender. You have until noon tomorrow eastern standard time to publicly sign it. Any country failing to sign will cease to exist along with every man woman and child. The news networks will broadcast broadcast each signing live."

Bob gave Athena a slight nod. She cut the out going signal.

"Thanks sexy. Baby girl, no functional civilian hand guns. They can keep them as souvenirs. Let private security officers keep them but nothing bigger than a nine millimeter. Also no functional civilian rifles or shot guns with magazines. Single shot bolt action rifles and single shot, single barrel shotguns only. Same thing goes for any private militia groups."

Kadir replied, "all set Your Majesty."

"Good. Thank you. Now destroy all the illegal drug crops worldwide and prevent them from ever growing again. Let's put the cartels, the gangs, and all the other criminal organizations out of business. While you're at it drain their bank accounts and empty their safes. Transfer all their cash to my vault. Then destroy all their weapons making sure they can never use one again."

"That's done too Your Majesty."

"You make this so easy for me baby girl. Thank you. Damn, I know there's a few things I'm missing. Oh well, we'll take them as they come up. Tie me back in sexy."

Athena replied, "you're tied in Your Majesty."

"By now you know you have no military capabilities. I'll allow you to maintain police and national security forces. But they'll only function within your own national boarders.

The only exception being Syria. I'm appointing the national coalition as Syria's new government. Their leader will be responsible for signing the instrument of surrender. The free Syrian army will act as a temporary security force.

Any wacko terrorists or wacko terrorist groups worldwide will find their weapons won't function. They are temporally bared from participating in any new government or security force.

If Earth survives past noon tomorrow, once the situation stabilizes, they'll be free to participate in elections like any other citizen .

Rioters and looters will be executed on the spot.

A word of warning to militia groups and others that think this is a good time to start a revolution. Don't! You'll be dead before you even start.

It's two o'clock in New York. Earth has twenty two hours left to surrender. If you do, I'll make a few changes and toss a few new laws your way. For most of you life will go on normally. If you fail to surrender, your sun will become a black hole swallowing every planet in your solar system. There will be no safe haven for anyone."

Bob gave a slight nod to Athena. Once again, she cut the outgoing link.

Destiny laughed. "Damn Bob! Remind me never to play chicken with you! What are you gonna do if they decide to commit suicide?"

"Exactly what I said I'd do. But it won't come to that. They're defenseless and scared shitless. They know surrender is their only option. My biggest problem is what to do with them afterwards."

"What ARE you gonna do with them afterwards?"

"That's the part I haven't figured out yet Destiny."

Athena stood handing bob a small remote. "We need to have a council meeting. You need to monitor things. Just use the arrows to highlight and hit select. The button on the left lets you talk to whoever is on the selected monitor. The one on the right ties your audio in worldwide. Cassandra and Kadir can help you keep an eye on things. If you need us for anything, just yell. In the meantime, we'll see what suggestions we can come up with."

"That's a great idea. Thanks sexy."

Asimah said to her helpers, "you're gonna have to keep an eye on our screens too until we get back."

They all nodded shifting positions to cover the vacated screens.

Destiny asked, "do you mind if I join your council meeting? I may even be able to help some."

Bob looked at Hera and Selena. Both gave a nod. Bob said, "sure go ahead Destiny. We can use all the help we can get."

Bob listened on the meeting in the White House crisis room.

The chairman of the joint chiefs was talking. "Mr President. I know you have a lot on your plate. But I've got ships, subs,and planes scattered all over the world that can't move. We have to find a way to get our people home."

Bob said, "baby girl let's fix this. Listen to what I tell them and make sure they follow my instructions exactly.

"Okay Your Majesty."

Bob tied in worldwide. "I'll allow your ships subs and planes to move as long as you return them to your own national boarders. You can refuel as necessary to get them home but nowhere else."

Bob switched back, listening to the White House crisis room. He laughed as the admiral said, "I want this room scanned for bugs right now!"

The American President snapped, "we don't have time for that shit admiral. Besides I don't think you'd find any. The son of a bitch sees and hears everything. He's been leading us around by our dicks for days. We've been to damn stupid to see it. The only remaining question is, do we surrender or die?"

The admiral said, "Mr President, I don't think he can turn the sun into a black hole and there's no way he can maintain control without boots on the ground. Treat this like an invasion. Have our people spread out forming resistance cells. Force him to put boots on the ground. If we can cost him enough lives he'll have to back off."

The President said, "under normal circumstances, I'd agree with you admiral. But in case you haven't noticed, the circumstances are far from normal. There isn't a country on Earth with any viable military capacity outside their own boarders. I think the only reason we even have that is to prevent riots and looting.

Even if you're right and he can't create a black hole, what's to stop him from taking that little bit of self defense away from us too? Given everything he's already done, I don't believe he'd make an empty threat.

Think about it. He's controlled our every action and reaction for days. Where were his boots on the ground then? I'm not willing to risk the lives of the American People on the slim chance you're right admiral. I'm gonna sign the Instrument of Surrender."

The admiral reached for his side arm.

Bob snapped, "Cassandra!"

The admiral said," I'm sorry Mr. President. I can't..." his head rolled across the room as his lifeless body slumped to the floor.

The president glanced around the room. "I think he's made his point gentlemen. Any questions?"

Twenty minutes later, the American President became the first of Earth's leaders to publicly sign the instrument of surrender. One by one, every other country followed suit. By nine o'clock eastern standard time the next morning, it was all over.

Cassandra leaned over cupping Bob's chin turning his head giving him a kiss. "Congratulations, you did it my love."

There was sadness in Bob's voice as he spoke. "Yeah, I beat them sweetie. But it wasn't pretty.

I've taken away their ability to make war. But not their desire to kill each other. I still have a lot of work to do."

"Nothing good ever comes easy Bob. You know that. But you'll get there. You've ended their wars forever and that's a good thing."

She smiled gently. "I remember the first day we met. You asked me if you could bring peace to the world. I told you possibly, but you had to overcome all the hatred first. Well my darling, it turned out I was wrong. You turned that hatred against them using it as a catalyst. Earth as a whole is finally at peace. Now, be at peace with yourself. In this case, the ends really do justify the means my love."

"You never cease to amaze me sweetie. You're right. We did good. We've been at this for days. While my body doesn't really need sleep anymore, my mind is wiped out from all the stress. We've got a couple of hours before I have to acknowledge their surrender. Let's take a break. We'll go to the beach for a while. You and Kadir can play with your friends if they're still around."

Cassandra and Kadir jumped up saying, "YAY!"

Bob turned to the Djinn. "You're relieved for now. You can join us or go home if you want. Take some time to relax. Just be back here in two hours."

The Djinn decided to join them at the beach. Bob stopped in the dinning room telling the council he was taking a two hour break.

Destiny asked, "what about Earth?"

Bob said, "if they find a way to destroy themselves in the next two hours, I'll fucking kill them."

Everybody laughed as Destiny said, "I'll help you!"

The dolphins were still playing near the beach. Destiny watched in amazement as Cassandra talked with them. "They actually understand each other! I've never seen that before!"

Bob shrugged. "They know she's queen of Neuveia. They're proud of her. She loves them and they love her. Why shouldn't they be able to talk to each other?"

Destiny said, "It's one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. But why isn't Kadir talking to them too?"

"They try to talk to Kadir. She can't understand them."

"So help her understand them Bob."

Bob was shocked. "I never even thought of that! You're right. I can help her understand them!"

He gave Kadir a long look. Suddenly she started talking to the dolphins too. It took her a few seconds to realize what she was doing. She spun around in the water running up to Bob, throwing her arms around him kissing him.

"Thank you master! What a wonderful gift!"

Bob smiled. "You're welcome baby girl."

She ran back to the dolphins, talking excitedly with them as Cassandra laughed with glee.

Destiny smiled. "Kadir deserved that Bob. I told you that you needed her. She's pulled your fat out of the fire many times over the last few days. It was a suitable reward for her loyalty and service."

"I agree it was a nice reward. But she deserves so much more. She deserves to be free like Cassandra."

"I understand how you feel Bob. But that's the one reward Kadir can never have. If I could change that, I would gladly do so. But even Cassandra isn't completely free. She's free of the ring, But little else. She has free will, but only within certain limits. She can do some things on her own, be a bit mischievous at times. Maybe even be a little bold, occasionally taking the initiative. However, she will always be subservient to you and must follow your every command, past, present, or future."

"I know Cassandra's limits, and I realize Kadir can never be free Destiny. It's just that sometimes..."

"I know, it doesn't seem fair Bob. But my sister Life isn't exactly known for being fair. Neither am I for that matter. It's usually not intentional, but as the Fates, we can be very cruel at times.

Kadir and her twin Asimah were created specifically to serve Cassandra's master. Each has a role to play in your life. Asimah has yet to fulfill a part of her role, but she will soon enough.

"What's that supposed to mean? What's going on with Asimah now?"

"I''m sorry Bob. I've already said too much. Unlike Kadir, Asimah has free will. Her future's not carved in stone like Kadir's. If I say any more, it could change Asimah's future and disrupt the time line."

"That's one answer I have to accept. Whether I like it or not Destiny."

There is one more thing I may as well tell you. Mother has a favor to ask of you. Olympus needs another goddess to fill Cassandra's place. She wants you to be the father of that goddess. You may choose her mother."

Destiny laughed. "Mother's hoping you'll choose Hera. She thinks it would be poetic justice. Especially if you didn't say anything."

Bob was shocked. "You want me to what? Are you nuts? What if the child inherits some or all of my powers? There's no way I'd even consider impregnating someone without talking to them first. That's how this whole mess started. Hera's been through enough hell. I won't put her through anymore. Zeus is a friend now and I won't do that to him either."

Destiny said, "you have full control of your powers. You can choose what powers ,if any, you want your child to inherit. As far as Hera goes, I told mother you'd say that. She's not really expecting you to do it."

"That's good. Because the answer would have been a flat out no. You can tell the boss, that when I get some time, I'll think about it. Right now I have too much on my plate to give her an answer either way."

"Okay, I'll tell her that Bob."

"You do that Destiny. You know, your sense of timing really sucks. I came out here to clear my head of all the bullshit from the last few days. Not to have another load of crap dumped in my lap. I'm not even gonna begin to think about this shit until I've finished with Earth."

He walked away before she could answer. "Okay people, time to get back to work," he yelled.

They went to the war room. Bob asked Hera and Selena to give him a quick summary of the council meeting. When they finished Bob said, "good job! There's some suggestions I can use. But some others I can't use, at least not yet. They're based on the assumption Earth surrendered because their spirit was broken. That's not the case. Earth surrendered because they had no other option. It's time to ramp up the pressure a little. Let's see exactly where we're at. Battle stations! Battledress!"

He looked over at Athena. "Okay sexy. Worldwide audio and visual. Let everyone see and hear everyone."

Athena said, "you're tied in Your Majesty."

Bob sat quietly looking at the screens until the chatter stopped.

"People of Earth. I acknowledge and accept your unconditional surrender. Until further notice, I'm your king. You'll address me as Your Majesty.

The fate of the Earth is still very much an open question. Whether you live or die depends on you following my orders to the letter. I've been given orders to bring peace and prosperity to Earth or destroy it. I have a short time frame to work with. Which means I don't have time to put up with any bullshit.

If you do what you're told, when you're told, you'll get through this okay. But any major deviation will result in your instant destruction. Any level of dissent will be dealt with quickly and harshly. I don't have time for anything less, neither do you.